How Long Does It Take
by Anycents
Summary: We only know two important facts about Zoro before he wandered into Shells Town and ended up tied to the post where Luffy found him, he went to a school for swordsmanship and the daughter of the school's master beat him in 2001 duels. That would take awhile, wouldn't it?
1. Chapter 1

**I kept thinking about how we really only know two important facts about Zoro before he wandered into Shells Town and ended up tied to the post where Luffy found him. He went to a school for swordsmanship and the daughter of the school's master beat him in 2001 duels. That would take awhile, wouldn't it?**

 **I followed the canon of chapters 5 and 589 of the manga, which is even sparser on details then the anime.**

* * *

 _Zoro and Brook stand a couple paces apart, feet in a ready stance. Brook starts to bring his sword around in a slow thrust toward Zoro's head._

 _'Ok, pay attention to how I redirect your blade,' Zoro instructs as he brings his sword up equally slowly. As the katana and cane sword meet he twists his arm and shoulders in a subtle motion that travels down into his footing. Brook's blade is pushed sideways._

 _Brook cocks his head to the side inspecting Zoros stance and the positioning of their blades. He lets out a self-deprecating chuckle and takes a step back lowering his sword. Zoro steps back as well and takes up his beginning stance again. Brook begins, 'I'm sorry Zoro-san, maybe if we just…'_

 _Zoro interrupts drawing his blade back, 'Now you try.'_

 _The skeleton starts and yelps in panic, but brings up his blade trying to imitate what the other swordsman just showed him. Zoro doesn't move as fast as he normally would, but the motion isn't exactly slow._

 _When they stop Wado Ichimonji is stuck through the space between Brook's ribcage and pelvis._

 _Brook manages to look sheepish, 'Ah, Zoro-san you appear to have gutted me,' he pauses and Zoro gives him an impatient look, 'except that I have no guts. Yo ho ho ho.'_

 _Zoro smirks at him and pulls his sword back, 'We'll keep practicing. It's a complicated technique, took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out.'_

 _'It's hard to imagine you would have much use for it,' Brook comments, glancing over at the several multi-ton weights spread around the floor of the crow's nest._

 _'Yeah, but when I needed it I was damn glad to have it,' he shrugs, 'I also incorporated it into my methods for fighting large groups of weaklings. Makes all that boring cleanup work go a lot faster.'_

 _'What do you call it?'_

 _Zoro blinks at the question as if it never occurred to him before. 'Kuina never gave it name and nobody else at the school knew how she did it. That's part of the reason it took me so long to figure out,' there is a slight pause as he looks off to the side, 'she died before I managed it.'_

 _'She must have been a brilliant young woman. I wish I could have met her.'_

 _Zoro straightens up at Brook's consoling tone and shakes his head giving his crewmate a half smile, 'She would have decapitated you for asking to see her panties.'_

* * *

In Shimotsuki, every year after the harvest is in, boys and young men from the nearby villages come to stay at the school until it was time for them to return to their farms in the spring. Men learn swordsmanship to defend their homes and families when the need arises.

Koshiro, Kuina's father and the school's head teacher, starts teaching her the sword almost as soon as she can walk.

At six she takes classes along side the boys.

At nine she is practicing alongside the advanced students.

Her father starts to call her forward for a duel when one of the boys starts getting too arrogant or complacent in their accomplishments.

Kuina knows her part in this. She practices every day because it would be intolerable if one of the arrogant little braggarts ever got away without learning their lesson. She always beats them easily.

After every fight she stands over them sword in hand, puts on her best arrogant smile and says, 'you're weak.' The shame of it would often have them nearly in tears.

Her father doesn't say anything, but the message is clear, 'How can you brag about your talents when you can be beaten by a little girl?'

She rarely spars with any of them more than once or twice. They take their lesson and move on, vowing to work harder to avoid such humiliation in the future.

There is never any doubt from either her or her father that she will beat the boys he sets against her. It is her family's duty to make sure the students grow up to be strong and able to defend their homes. She is proud of that work.

For a long time it is enough.

* * *

The whole island is rural, small villages with large families, each with their own reputation and share of gossip.

So she knows who each of the boys are when they show up, but there's nothing worth remarking on in this latest group. They are the sons of fishermen, farmers, and craftsmen from the nearby villages, just another dozen eight year olds ready to spend their first winter in training.

At ten years old Kuina helps supervise the new students in the afternoon as they do their daily chores. This involves helping with almost anything that needs doing around the school. She teaches them how to scrub the stains out of clothes, sweep a floor properly, and peel a potato without wasting too much.

Although none of them are enthusiastic about this work, most of them understand this it is part of the price paid for the lessons they are receiving. Her father explains to those that try to shirk their share that he does not teach people who do not value the school enough to take care of it.

* * *

About a month after winter practice starts she is running through her forms with the older students when her father calls her over to the room with the beginning students for the first time.

One of the boys has been bragging to the others that the lessons are so easy that Koshiro would no doubt move him to the more advanced class before the winter was even over. So father has offered to let him prove what he had learned.

She draws the duel out a bit, just to see if he has any basis for his claim. Although he shows decent improvement after being here only a month, he still had a long way to go before he is ready to move past the basics. She knocks him on his ass and gives him the standard grin.

He gives the required bow and slinks back to the other beginners. The jeers and consolations of his peers swallow him up as they go to clean up before dinner.

This is the usual pattern, but lately watching the rowdy group of boys head off makes her feel slightly tired for some reason.

She comes out of her distraction to realize one of the other boys, Zoro, has come back and is now standing in front of her.

The boy always does his chores without chatting or complaining much, although he tends to look at the broom or potato peeler as if it had insulted him somehow. He hasn't given her any trouble, so she hasn't thought of him much.

He is still clutching his practice sword and there is a determined, almost angry look on his face, 'Fight me.'

Kuina blinks. Nobody ever asks for a duel of their own accord. She might suspect Zoro of some kind of trick, but she knows the boy well enough to know he doesn't think that way. Everything is always as straight forward as possible with him.

She glances over at her father. Koshiro merely smiles and waves a go ahead at her before strolling out of the room. So he's leaving it up to her then. She raises her own wooden sword and takes a beginning stance, 'Let's go then.'

Zoro carefully places his feet as he's been taught and raises his own blade, brow furrowed even more deeply in concentration.

He charges straight at her.

She redirects him around her and lets him turn around. She allows him a couple more charges before she twists her blade and lands him on his back. He's strong for his age, but his straightforwardness is reflected in the way he fights. Out of habit she smirks at him, 'You're weak Zoro.'

He stands up, still frowning, and bows perfunctorily, as basic courtesy requires.

For a moment Kuina assumes that that is the end of this anomalous little situation.

'Show me how you did that,' he demands.

She frowns at his rudeness, 'You should have paid better attention.'

He seems to struggle with himself for a moment, like it might actually hurt him to say, 'please.' She would be even more offended if she didn't know that this is how he behaves toward _everyone_.

He settles for, 'Duel me again. One more time.'

This time she slows down slightly as their blades lock together, wondering if he will be able to pick up on how the movement of force through the blade tells her everything he is going to do. It's probably too advanced for him.

Just to emphasize it a bit more, on the third pass she rocks the blade back and forth a bit before flipping him on his back this time. 'Still weak,' she says, 'that's two losses for you.'

He lies staring at the ceiling for few seconds, stunned from the fall, before standing up and bowing to her properly this time.

Then he smiles at her, open and cheerful, as if she's just shown him something amazing, 'Next time for sure.' And with that he runs off after the other boys, wooden sword resting on his shoulder.

* * *

And it continues on this way.

The younger class usually gets out first. He's not the only one who comes to watch older students quietly from the sidelines, but when all the other students leave he stays behind and demands a duel.

Over the course of less than twenty minutes they go through three or four rounds.

After a month she's still barely trying and she often teases him, maneuvering him around the classroom.

When he growls at her in frustration, she smirks, 'Don't like it?'

He glowers. She smiles and takes up a starting stance, 'Make me try harder then.'

He gives her a flat smile, knowing he won't prove himself with talk.

He still charges straight at her, but he's starting to pick up on things, he's learning to block and maintain his balance. She can't simply throw him with his own momentum. She reserves calling him weak for when he does something particularly stupid.

He seems to take her challenge to heart and starts spending the hours between dinner and bedtime, which the students usually have free, practicing his forms and doing extra exercises. He's still miles behind her, but he starts improving far faster than the other beginning students.

Kuina realizes that she has gotten complacent.

She may be one of the best students at the school, but a true swordsman is always seeking to improve.

The worst thing is that if she lets the little shrimp catch up and beat her, no one would be surprised, except maybe her father, because that's the way things are supposed to be.

Victory after victory and it would all be erased with one loss. It cannot be allowed. She starts practicing in the evening too.

When spring comes around all the boys go home to help with the planting. Zoro has 463 defeats to his name. The other boys console Zoro for his losses, although none of them seem to understand why he keeps allowing himself to be humiliated in this way.

Whatever his reasons, Zoro doesn't bother to explain to them or her.

* * *

In late spring and through the summer he shows up almost every day, jogging the three miles from the next village to the school so he can spend the afternoon practicing with the other students.

In the evening he waits for the advanced class to finish and they go through 2 or 3 rounds before he heads home.

He stacks up another 247 losses by the time fall comes around again bringing the total to 710.

* * *

By next winter session Zoro is showing enough mastery of the basics that he's moved to the intermediate class a year earlier than usual.

A single katana can normally be wielded with one or two hands, but Zoro chooses to focus on learning to fight with two swords at once, giving up the option of using two hands for extra strength. He's already unusually strong for his age, so the increased flexibility of having two blades makes sense for him.

Kuina wonders if that flexibility will change his insistence on charging straight at his opponent and just trying to bull his way through.

Probably not.

She's only mostly right. He still disdains to circle or feint at all, but at least he's getting better at blocking. This allows their fights to last longer. Three or four rounds may take an hour now. They have to wait till after dinner to fight, so they aren't late all the time.

'I can see your thoughts going through your head,' she teases Zoro, exaggerating a little; 'You keep looking exactly where you're going to strike.' He huffs and adjusts his gaze toward the center of her body, looking without staring so it not immediately obvious where he wants to strike..

She knows that he's learned better than to narrow his focus so much, he just needs to try harder not to forget.

Afterwards they both wander off to their separate evening practice. She's starts spending some time meditating after their duels and before her solo practice.

If a fighter is strong they may wield a sword like an axe and prevail based on force alone, but the true art of swordsmanship lies in making a single perfect strike. This requires ever widening circles of awareness: knowledge of herself, of her blade, of the opponent, of the environment. Her father sometimes speaks about the voice of the world, the ability to take it all in and know where the strike must fall to cut precisely and only what is meant to be cut.

Nothing seems to come to her while she's meditating, but it does make it easier to focus when she's practicing.

* * *

By the end of winter Zoro's dueling with boys 4 or 5 years older and winning on a regular basis.

She swears that if he brags about his accomplishments she will make him regret it.

He doesn't though. In fact, the praise of the other students doesn't seem to mean much to him. Apparently, whatever he's after, it has nothing to do with them.

Zoro has accrued another 527 defeats for a total of 1,237.

* * *

As spring comes around again she spends the morning working in the large vegetable gardens that help supply the school. After lunch students trickle in and train for a few hours before trotting home for supper.

They have their bouts after class. If they run on a little long her father might bring out some rice balls or something else they can sit and snack on before Zoro makes the trek back home.

The view from atop the broad hill across the fields and over the village and harbor of Shimotsuki is pleasant and familiar. Neither of them is talkative by nature, so they often sit quietly eating and cooling off as the sun starts to lose its noontime intensity.

Sometimes one of them will bring up a match that happened that day and they will hash it over for a bit, discussing methods, strengths and weaknesses before falling naturally silent again. Zoro is far less experienced then her, but he's developing a keen eye.

* * *

It is the last day before all the students go home to help with the harvest. Kuina brings a book to the classroom with her and leaves it off to the side till their practice and dueling is done. She sets it beside her as she and Zoro sit to eat their rice balls. The fields are shining yellow with drying stalks and the trees are turning crimson. The air is starting to get cold with evening.

'Have you read this?,' she asks passing the book to Zoro as he sits beside her.

He examines the sturdy cover and runs his finger over the edges of the thick pages, before shaking his head.

'It's the Tales of Ryuma,' she explains pointing at the title, 'He was the greatest swordsman in the whole world. Ryuma travelled all over fighting bad guys. No one could ever beat him. This traveling monk gathered up stories from all the people he helped and put them in this book. He's the first that everyone agreed was the best. You should read it.' She stops realizing she's gotten a little carried away.

Zoro studies her for a few seconds eyes widened slightly in surprise before letting out a huff and giving one of his rare broad smiles. He stands and nods as he tucks the book under his arm. He turns and starts to trot down the hill, 'See you in a few weeks,' he calls out over his shoulder.

* * *

The pace of his losses has slowed down somewhat, since their duels are taking longer, but he's still added another 213 to his total, bringing it up to 1450.

Kuina turns twelve over the course of the fall break. That evening after dinner her father invites her upstairs to the school's formal sitting room and opens a decorative cabinet sitting along the back wall.

She takes a deep breath and holds it for several seconds, trying not to start bouncing and ruin this incredibly important moment with childish fidgeting.

He lifts the katana protected in the cabinet off its rack using both hands and turns to hold it out to her. She lets out her breath slowly through her nose before stepping forward and imitating her father, using both hands to take the white and gold sheath katana.

'Wado Ichimonji, the straight path of harmony,' her father states, 'This blade has been passed down in our family since before our ancestors left Wano almost 300 years ago. It was gifted to our ancestor in acknowledgement of his service as a guardian of that realm. Its name expresses the wish that its wielder will seek to bring balance to the world around them. Its care is your responsibility now.'

She pulls the sword reverently from its sheath. The guard is a simple oval. The hamon, the hardened edge of the blade, melds smoothly along the length, following the curve of the blade. The balance is perfect, the blade moving easily around the pivot of her hand.

She resheaths the sword and moves to put it back in its case, then turns and gives a formal bow, 'Thank you father.'

He chuckles and pulls her into a hug. She wraps her arms around him in turn and feels tears sting the corner of her eyes. It's not just the blade, which is amazing; it's the affirmation of her father's faith in her.

* * *

 **If you have any comments, I would be happy to hear them. Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

When Zoro returns in the fall he starts in the advanced class. They will now be training alongside each other. Koshiro helps him pick two katana from school's stores so he can start practicing using real blades.

They resume their now normal routine of sparring in the evening. He seems a bit wound up as they square off to spar for the first time, but he doesn't say anything until after peremptorily acknowledging his second loss.

Then he fetches the book that she loaned to him.

He looks serious and yet excited, like he is about to say something very important. The book is one of her favorites, but she's still surprised he seems to have liked it so much.

'I'm gonna do it,' he declares as he hands the book back to her.

She takes a moment to try and decipher his statement before giving up, 'What?'

'I'll be the greatest in the whole world,' he gestures at the book, 'like him.'

She is taken aback by how his matter of fact tone doesn't at all match the boldness of the claim he has just made.

'You'll have to beat me first,' is all she can think to say.

He just crosses his arms and nods, 'Well yeah, but I already promised to do that a long time ago anyway,' he states sounding almost bored. Then he smirks at her. Little brat.

She is torn between not wanting to step all over his enthusiasm and the absolute conviction that he cannot be allowed to best her. 'Well,' she decides to make a leap. She mimics his cocky pose, crossing her arms and lifting her chin with a smiling, 'You can chase me. And be second best.'

Zoro straightens up and scowls, puffing up a bit at her mockery of his bravado. But when he sees the amusement in her eyes at the predictability of his reaction, he relaxes with a snort and states more seriously, 'We'll see who's right. First to the top wins.'

'You're on Shrimp,' she agrees.

* * *

At the time she is mostly responding to the fact that getting to his goal is going to involve getting by her, but she finds herself thinking about it frequently over the next few days. What does being the best swordsman in the world actually involve?

It's is going to require a lot of practice, obviously, but that's only the beginning. In The Tales of Ryuma the hero travels all over the world, he encounters all sorts of strange people and fights monsters of every sort of description. She loves the book but she never really bothered to consider how much of it is actually true.

She starts to work her way through the books about famous swordsmen that are collected in the study along with various training manuals. She wants to get a handle on what could be out there.

The stories vary quite bit in style, some are absurdly over the top and others are so dry they manage to make battles between thousands sound as interesting as steaming rice. Some of them have maps in them, but they only match in the broadest features. All in all, it doesn't seem like much to work with.

She asks her father about devil fruits, since they seem to be the source of the many of the stories' most unbelievable aspects. He tells her that devil fruits are real, but he admits he doesn't know much about what they actually do.

That uncertainty is a revelation in and of itself, because she also never considered that there are worthwhile questions to which her father doesn't have the answers.

* * *

It takes Zoro and Kuina a full hour to get through one or two fights now. They plop down afterward, both trying not to be too obvious in their attempts catch their breath. Kuina brings up some of the stuff she's read.

'Most of the battles seem involve fighters who are way bigger than regular people. I wonder if there really are 12 foot tall warriors out there. It's hard to imagine.'

He thinks for a few seconds and then snorts a laugh at somethings he's imagined, 'That would make fighting easier, but the rest of the time you'd be ducking through doorways and sitting with your knees to your chest.'

Kuina chuckles at the image.

'Even if it's true it won't be a problem,' Zoro continues dismissively, 'I'm already used to fighting people way taller than me.

'Yep, who knew being a shrimp could be to your advantage,' she agrees cheerfully.

'I only just turned ten,' he defends, crossing his arms, 'It's not my fault none of the kids my own age bother to keep up with me.'

Zoro has been sparring with the oldest students at the school since the winter session started. Last week, he even scored a point on one of the instructors. He is absurdly strong, even compared to most adults, and others often do not know how to effectively block his strikes.

* * *

As the weather is just starting to warm up again they are offered an intriguing look at the possibilities out there.

The students come outside in the morning to find that an impressively fierce looking four masted barque with dragons twined along its sides is anchored in the village's little harbor.

The ship towers over the one and two story buildings nearby. A large number of people can be seen moving around on the deck, probably more than actually live in Shimotsuki.

Koshiro leads the other men of the village down to the harbor to see what the strangers want.

Zoro and Kuina stand at the front of the group of younger students left behind at the school. They have disobeyed her father's orders to stay hidden inside so far as to watch at a distance about half way up the hill to the school. Kuina brings Wado Ichimonji and Zoro has the two swords that have been given into his care. He's wearing them at his waist and has to keep them tilted back with his hand so they don't drag on the ground.

The other villagers stay back as her father approaches the ship alone. It's a positive sign that whoever is on that ship has waited till the villagers come down to disembark.

However, the man who comes down the gang way is anything but reassuring. Forget 12 feet tall, this figure has to be near twice that. He's wearing a spotted hat with rounded ears on it and carrying a book nearly the size of an end table.

Koshiro stands hands at his sides as the man approaches to a few yards away and sits down so he is only around twice her father's height. He starts to talk, gesturing to the village. Koshiro nods and gestures in return. After a few minutes, her father steps forward and shakes the man's hand. The gesture is awkward, but reassuring.

The villagers start to disperse and the village headman comes forward, probably to negotiate any trade the visitors are interested in. A few less remarkable looking sailors come down the gangplank and start to mingle with the crowd.

Zoro strides past her and she immediately starts following along. Some of the other students call out or trail uncertainly behind them.

When they get to the edge of the open area near the harbor they stop again. Both the ship and the man are even more imposing close up. As they watch, the towering man stands up and turns to head back toward his ship.

Another sailor with a massive perm of curly purple hair and a magenta leotard comes to lean against the railing. He calls down in voice filled with declamatory drama, 'Kuma dearie are you sure we couldn't liven this place up a bit? These people need to be riled up before they suffocate on their own complacency.'

The bear eared man, Kuma, shoots the purple haired man an unamused look and starts in a surprisingly soft spoken voice, 'Ivankov, you know the captain…'

Ivankov interrupts him with another sigh and a dismissive wave of his hand, 'I know. I know. For a revolutionary our dear captain is quite a stick in the mud sometimes.'

He leans disconsolately on his hand as Kuma continues up the gang way and disappears into the ship.

Zoro and Kuina venture a little closer. Kuina wants to get a closer look at the fearsome looking dragons decorating the sides of the ship.

Ivankov sees them and perks up, eyeing them with interest.

As they reach the edge of the dock, he suddenly handstands over the railing of the ship, which has to be a good 35 feet above them. He lands neatly on stiletto boots, plants his hands on his hips, and leans forward at the waist to stare Kuina right in the face.

Kuina clutches her sword and lifts her chin, staring back. Although this person is not nearly as tall as his shipmate, he is still far taller than anyone else she has ever seen before.

Also, his face is huge and much too far into her personal space right now.

'An odd one out, eh?,' Ivanov straightens up and throws his hands in the air, 'Fantastic!'

Kuina's brows come together in confusion.

Ivankov flexes his gloved hand in front of himself while continuing to look at her thoughtfully. Kuina forces herself not to fidget and continues to stare back while trying to ignore the sweat running down the back of her neck.

The man places a finger to his lip, 'So, I'm curious girlie, do you ever wish you were someone else?' Ivankov points at Zoro, 'Like him, perhaps.'

Kuina frowns, 'Why would I want to be him? He's lost over 1800 duels to me so far.'

She ignores the clatter as Zoro tightens his grip on his swords.

Ivankov makes an amused moue, 'That's not quite what I meant.'

The man's fingers suddenly elongate into needles. The sound is so alarming that she has Wado Ichimonji out in front of her before she fully realizes what she is seeing. At almost the same time she hears the ring of Zoro unsheathing his swords as well.

But instead of attacking her, Ivankov smiles in amusement and jabs his fingers into his own side.

Kuina tenses up in surprise as Ivankov's body warps becoming slimmer and far curvier, filling out the leotard in an entirely different way. After a few moments the person standing in front of them is now, to all appearances, a woman.

She is not quite sure how much time passes, but eventually she regains control her jaw and remembers to breathe again. He – or wait – She is watching them in amusement at their slack jawed reactions.

Kuina's slowly recovering train of thought is derailed again. She had never had to give thought to which pronoun to apply to a person before. Is it okay to ask? Should she just know? She doesn't want to be rude.

Ivankov gives her a knowing look, ' 'He,' 'she,' I don't care what people call me. Even if they call me crap.'

She doesn't mind being insulted? That seems – admirable in a way, but -

'Except don't call me crap!'

Kuina jumps at this sudden exclamation, 'No, uh, mam, of course not.'

Her brain seems to have decided this person is female, despite thinking they were male when she first saw them. She feels like something has been shaken loose in her brain that she always took for granted.

No time to think about that now though. Male or female, Ivankov is not the sort to stand being ignored for long.

'It goes the other way too,' Ivankov grins down at her while wiggling her still pointed fingers in a little wave, 'So, what do you say girlie? I can reshape you to fit the space you want to fill,' she snaps, 'simple.'

Before Kuina can muster a response, Zoro snorts and their attention turns toward him. She sees that he has indeed drawn his swords and stepped sideways to cover her left without getting in her way.

She has to fight down a smile, especially when, rather than explaining, he struggles to put his serious face back on, though the corners of his mouth are still twitching up.

The distraction allows Kuina to collect herself enough to say, 'No…Thank you,' after a moment she can't stop herself from adding, 'You don't seem the sort who's interested in fitting in…unless the rest of the world is even stranger than I thought…' She clamps her mouth shut, that last bit was definitely rude.

'Oh girlie, you have no idea,' Ivankov seems amused at Kuina's naiveté, but she turns more serious as she continues, 'But that's not the point. Fighting the world is one thing, fighting yourself quite another. A person should be comfortable in their own skin.'

Another snort from Zoro, but this time he explains himself, 'She is aptly named after a striking water bird. Everyone else at the school is terrified of her speed and precision.'

This is high praise coming from Zoro. Kuina snaps her attention over to him for second before refocusing on Ivankov. What he just said is only the truth, but she can't quite fight down a smile this time. She's not quite sure if Zoro missed the point or not.

If she were a boy she would indeed fit in comfortably with the other upper classmen… but she's never been much interested in making others or herself comfortable.

The vague sense of dissatisfaction that has been building in her heart for a long time crystalizes.

Know yourself, know your world. If the other students cannot accept what was standing right in front of them, it only underlines their own weakness.

Ivankov seems to take note of the steel that enters her gaze. She smiles as if she has finally been given the answer she was looking for.

'Oh, Mmm fu fu fu, Well,' she claps and rubs her hands together as the needles retract, 'more power too you girlie! Somebody certainly needs to stir this place up. And old grumpy bear will be upset if I do it. You two should come join the revolutionaries in a few years when this island gets too small for you.'

Kuina stands up straighter, 'We're going to be too busy, one of us is going to be the greatest swordsman in the whole world.' Zoro smirks and nods in confirmation.

'Probably me,' she adds.

Just as Zoro turns to her and takes in an indignant breath to reply, Koshiro's voice calls out sternly from the other side of the square, 'Kuina, Zoro, where are you supposed to be right now?'

Several 'Eeps!' and the pattering of feet fade from behind the crates where their classmates were hiding. Zoro and Kuina shrink down slightly as they turn to trot obediently back to their teacher.

Behind them Ivankov starts laughing again,'Mmm fu fu fu' as she pulls a list out somewhere on her leotard and heads toward the village head man.

It's so funny to see the nonplussed expression on the normally cantankerous elder's face when Ivankov starts asking him questions about supplies that Kuina momentarily forgets how much trouble they are in.

* * *

'Since neither of you has any sense of self preservation,' Koshiro declares as he ushers them back up to the school, 'I'm going to have to make sure someone keeps an eye on you.'

'We waited until you shook hands to come down the hill,' Zoro grumbles indignantly.

'That's right father,' Kuina confirms, disappointment, prompting her to defend their actions, 'We were being careful. It was safe.'

'First of all,' their teacher responds sharply, 'I told you all to stay in the school. Instead, you were on the hill, where you could clearly be seen if the people on that ship turned out to be hostile. Secondly, I think declaring them 'safe,' just because they aren't planning on looting the town is being more than a little generous.'

'You're both going to give me your word that you'll stay up at the school until that ship leaves.'

Kuina tries to think of an argument that will work, 'But father…'

He stops and turns to look at them and she can tell instantly that he isn't going to budge. The look on his face isn't just stern; there is fear in his eyes. In her shock, her protests dry up. She nods her head, 'I promise.'

She hears Zoro grumble the same beside her.

Kuina has plenty of time to think over the course of the day as she and Zoro help the school's staff with any and all chores they can come up with. When they are finally let loose at sundown she gets her practice sword and goes through her exercises to clear her head.

She can see Zoro up on the hill hefting rocks about. Three other students who have taken to following Zoro around sometimes are looking out over the water and exclaiming loudly about the ship down in the harbor. Zoro is ignoring them.

The next afternoon Kuina is out in the courtyard pumping water when the wind chimes hung along the school's eves start to clatter loudly in a strong breeze coming off the water.

She has just finished her fourth trip to fill the laundry tubs when the chimes go silent.

Kuina walks out to the railing that lines the cliff overlooking the harbor in time to see a figure with a cloak and a leonine black mane of hair stepping off a small Florian rig, a standard sailboat except for the dragon figure head.

The man immediately turns and calls something up to the barque, while holding up a large bundle he is carrying in his arms. People start to move around on deck and the traveler quickly disappears onto the ship.

The wind picks up again. It's blowing from inland this time.

Just one ship, but even from what little she has seen it contained not only answers, but questions she never even thought to ask. And now it's gone.

Kunia works herself to exhaustion wailing on the training dummies and then goes to meditate.

When Zoro shows up for the evening fight she jumps up and quickly shakes herself out.

They bring their swords up to signal the beginning of the duel and she charges immediately. Her footing is careless and Zoro's counter nearly knocks her off balance.

As the fight continues she isn't diverting his strikes as efficiently as usual, so by the time she finally scores a point on him her back and shoulders are on fire from the strain.

It's the closest she has ever come to losing.

She plops down on the ground and crosser her arms over her knees.

A moment later Zoro drops down next to her, 'It was just one ship. We'll go see it all for ourselves someday.'

She huffs and drops her head onto her arms with a self-deprecating laugh at her own obviousness.

She supposes he's right.

* * *

 **In case you're wondering about why Ivankov and Kuma make an appearance in this chapter, (and basically steal the chapter,) their presence in the village is canon (see manga chapters 589 and 794.) Once I realized that I had to include them.**

 **I recently edited this chapter, I wasn't quite happy with my original version. I was trying to not to spend too much time on Ivankov, but he is a character that demands space.**


	3. Chapter 3

Planting season comes around again. As he walks down the hill with his pack Kuina calls after him, '338 more losses Zoro, that's 1888 altogether so far. We should be to make it an even 2000 easy by the end of summer.'

He turns to walk backwards, 'You had a head start on me, but I'm catching up and you know it. We'll see who's counting losses by the time summer is over.'

She crosses her arm and smiles, watching him back towards a rock sticking out of the ground. He sees her expression and looks confused for a moment before stopping and looking behind him.

He gives her a flat look and she starts laughing, 'See you in a few weeks Shrimp.'

He huffs and adjusts his pack's straps as he turns to jog down the hill. She watches him zig zag down the hill till he finds the path leading to his family's home.

* * *

A few days after spring break starts, Kuina comes into the kitchen after rinsing garden dirt from her hands. The cook had made iced tea and she's thirsty.

As she reaches up to get a cup out of the cabinet, the cook turns to look at her and starts a little, 'Um, Kuina…'

She turns to look at the woman who is flushing with awkwardness, 'Don't you think you're getting a little too old to be wearing just a thin, worn out shirt like that.'

Kuina tugs on the hem of the shirt to straighten it out. 'I was digging in the garden, it seemed best to wear old clothes,' she explains in confusion.

'I think you're showing off a little more than you intend to,' the cook insists.

Kuina looks down at herself, 'There's practically nothing to show off. I was thinking I could hold off on a wrapping until I actually need the extra support. It looks uncomfortable.'

'You get used to it,' the cook replies unconvincingly. 'Besides, you don't want the boys giving you a hard time, do you?'

'I'll think about it,' she replies and wanders out of the kitchen with her tea.

She sits on the porch to think.

The collar on this shirt _is_ kind of loose and the material is perhaps a little more worn through then she first realized. And she has been sweating a lot. There really isn't much there to see, but she supposes it's kind of the idea of the thing that has the cook worried. She hasn't lived her whole life surrounded males not to realize that boys can be incredibly stupid about certain things.

She supposes she'll have to concede the cook's point sometime soon. For now she goes to put on a shirt that's in better shape, as she intended to do anyway.

It's only a few days later that she asks the cook to show her how to secure the wrappings properly. She wants to be used to them by the time summer classes start.

* * *

When Zoro shows up for the first summer class a few weeks later she eyes him suspiciously from the porch.

He stops at the bottom of the stairs and looks her up and down, 'Why do you have that stupid look on your face?'

Kuina snorts and shakes her head as she turns to walk inside, leaving a confused Zoro standing outside.

Zoro has always acted toward her the way he acts toward everyone else, either taciturn or blunt to the point of rudeness. It's more of a relief then it probably should be that nothing seems to have changed.

* * *

Kuina has set some new goals for herself in anticipation of the day Zoro figures out how to counter the techniques she uses to deflect his absurd strength.

She's going to learn to avoid his blade completely. She's always had a knack for reading the little tells people give off, so she needs to refine that until she can fully anticipate his moves. At the same time she needs to learn to react quickly enough to make use of what she sees.

Figuring out those two near impossibilities should give her plenty to do.

* * *

There is a well-established routine by now. Zoro shows up in the afternoon and they go through exercises and practice with the other students. Afterward, they duel and Kuina declares her win.

It's a little more than halfway through summer session and they are sitting in their usual spot on the porch that looks out over the village and the harbor.

'I supposed when we leave, it will have to be on one of those,' Kuina surmises gesturing at the caravel recently anchored in the little harbor, 'I wonder where else they go when they leave here.'

'Why let them decide where we go? The next island can't be that far away. We could borrow a fishing boat and get there on our own.'

She looks at him incredulously, 'Are you insane?'

He crosses his arms and grumbles, 'It can't be that hard to figure out.'

She crosses her arms back, 'I'd rather not drown before I even get to see what a city looks like.'

'Probably just like that,' Zoro says waving his hand at the village down the hill, 'only more of it.'

She rubs her forehead, 'That is the second dumbest thing I've ever heard, just after the row boat idea.'

Zoro crosses his arms, fed up, 'It's not like you know any more than I do.'

This is only mostly true, but Kuina decides to go for, 'Well, there's still common sense.'

She thinks a moment, 'You're right though, we need information.'

She stands up, 'I bet the people on that ship know lots of stuff. And they're just regular traders, so it should be ok to talk to them.'

She takes off at a jog down the hill and Zoro follows after.

They reach the open area near the harbor and stand watching strangers come and go for a few minutes before Zoro huffs with impatience and steps forward, 'This is easy enough.'

He trots up to a lanky sailor in a vest and breeches who is ambling by, 'Hey you! Where's that ship going?'

The man starts at being so bluntly addressed, but responds 'Goa, but we're not taking on kids.'

'We don't have any money anyway,' Zoro says dismissively.

Kuina almost face palms at the flat look the sailor gives them, but Zoro continues on, 'We want information about other islands.'

The man gives the stern looking pint size a speculative look. 'Weeell, I have some old newspapers and a couple travel guides I could give you, but what would you trade me for them?'

Zoro looks bored, 'Doesn't sound like stuff you have much use for anyway, but we'll trade you a bottle of sake for it.'

'This place is such a backwater the news gulls never come out here. Four bottles or I can use the stuff for insulation if you don't want it.'

Zoro and the trader settle on two bottles. She looks at him with curiosity as they trot back towards the school.

Zoro glances over at her, 'I have a few bottles back home that are considered 'mine' cause I helped work through the whole process. They aren't that great quality, but he's probably too dumb to tell the difference anyway.'

Kuina knows, but had kind of forgotten, that when Zoro isn't at the school he's helping on his family's farm.

The villages work on barter and most of the things she needs come from the items and services the villagers trade for their schooling. She's rarely had reason to specifically ask for anything. Long story short, she has nothing to trade.

So she's glad he had an idea, 'Thank you.'

Zoro shrugs, 'He better give us something useful.'

* * *

The next afternoon they trade a couple of bottles of third rate sake for a couple foot tall pile of poorly folded old newspapers and a few worn tourist guides for cities on nearby islands. They haul it up to the school.

Kuina starts sorting through the pile that evening.

She doesn't understand most of what is referred to in the papers. It's all places, people, and conflicts she's never heard of before.

However, there are wanted posters mixed with the newspapers, these are understandable enough. There are seventeen sheets, each representing a criminal residing somewhere in the East Blue, their path of destruction listed in brief along the bottom.

She stays up much later than usual trying to get a handle on what these stories say about the world she is planning on venturing into. She finally looks up from her reading to notice a bright square of moonlight cast on the floor near her feet. She retrieves her practice sword from the corner and goes out to the court yard.

The moon is three quarters full and the sky is clear so there's plenty of light. She begins going through her forms. The familiar motions help her organize her thoughts.

* * *

The next evening, 1,997th win out of the way, she shows Zoro the stack of wanted posters. He looks them over intently for a few minutes before simply stating, 'There are a lot of people out there who need to get their asses kicked.'

Kuina lets out a wry snort and nods because, despite how she sometimes mocks Zoro for his simplistic outlook on things, her conclusion, after all that pondering and loss of sleep last night, was pretty much the same.

She runs back to her room and grabs one of the old guide books. The book is actually mostly advertisements for various businesses located in Goa, but even those are pretty interesting in their own way.

She flips the book open to a page for a weapons shop with pictures of various types of armaments. They start debating the potential virtues and drawbacks of the sword types depicted on the page. They speak in terms of the best way to compensate for each weapon's dissimilarities to a katana, which, it goes without saying, is the weapon they prefer.

Her father finally calls her in to eat. Reminding her that Zoro needs to head home before it gets completely dark. She hands him the guide book to take home and shuffles the posters back into a pile. As she walks inside her mind drifts back to the things she was mulling over last night.

* * *

'Kuina,' she looks up to see her father eyeing the posters tucked under her arm, 'where did you get those?'

She takes them in hand and distractedly bends them into a roll, 'Zoro traded some sake for a stack of old newspapers.'

'Is the whole world really being overrun by bandits and pirates?' she blurts, feeling vaguely betrayed by the things she's read. She waves the posters around in irritation, 'Practically every story in those papers is about how the Navy defended an island from being pillaged or arrested some mass murderer. Are they really the only ones doing anything about all this?'

Her father gives her a measuring look before answering, 'The paper you got those from is published by the World Government. They want to cast themselves in the best possible light, so those articles should be taken with a grain of salt. The way you would with any story told by a braggart.'

She looks down at the wanted posters in her hand, but before she can properly frame a question, her father continues, 'Still, I think it's safe to say that anyone who earns themselves one of those is dangerous.'

So, the claims the papers make, which are already confusing, are neither entirely true nor entirely false. Great.

'I wanted to get an idea what the world is like and what kind of people I'll have to fight out there, but it looks like I'll just have to wait till I see it for myself.' She sighs in frustration.

Her father stiffens, 'Kuina, what are you talking about?'

She realizes that this is not the most reassuring way of telling her father that she is planning to leave Shimotsuki when she gets older. She hasn't said anything to him, thinking it would sound too much like bragging at this stage. But she brought it up so now she needs to explain herself.

'I'll need to travel to other islands someday. Zoro and I are competing for the title of greatest swordsman in the world.'

Her father's shoulders relax, 'Oh, so it's a bet with Zoro,' he waves his hand, 'that's okay then.'

His tone implies that he thinks they are playing make believe and, although she realizes it would be easier to let it go, she feels the need to defend their goal. She can't avoid letting some asperity into her voice, 'I know we're still kids, but we're both serious about this.'

Her father looks exasperated, 'You _just_ admitted that you have no idea what you'd be getting yourself into. You don't know how dangerous it is out there.'

'I know I have to be prepared for anything,' she asserts, 'That's why I'm training so hard.'

Her father takes a deep breath as he realizes she means what she's saying. His next words come out flat and serious, 'Kuina, you are a talented duelist, but actually defending your life with a sword is very different from a formal duel.'

'Most the men you say you intend to face have no understanding of higher practice of swordsmanship,' he indicates the posters still clutched in her hand, 'but they make up for it with levels of strength and brutality that you have no hope of matching.'

'They will not ease off because you are a woman.'

She freezes up, the words feel like he has just placed a blade over her heart, 'I don't expect...'

But her father talks over her with a chopping motion of his hand, 'If anything it will make them worse. Many of them would consider your challenge an insult.'

She takes a couple shallow breaths and struggles for composure, 'So why are you teaching me? Why give me Wado Ichimonji if I'm not able to put the blade to its true purpose?'

Her father put a hand on her shoulder continues on more gently, 'You are an excellent teacher. Zoro is proof of that. Here in Shimotsuki people know you. I think with all your hard work you can gain enough of a reputation that I will be allowed to leave the school to you someday.'

She can't bring herself to look up at him as he continues on, genuine concern lacing his voice, 'If you leave you will be all alone out there. I don't want that for you. I don't want you to suffer for an impossibility.'

Kuina knows that if she tries to say anything, she will embarrass herself. She takes a step back from her father's hand, squares her shoulder and offers her father a formal bow, the same as all the students give at the end of a class in acknowledgement of their teacher.

Then she turns and walks quickly from the room. Her father makes no attempt to stop her.

* * *

Kuina finds herself on the hill behind the school. She crosses just over the top and plops down in the tall grass just on the other side. She's not exactly hiding, but she shouldn't be easily spotted here.

Now that she is alone, she lets the tears and snot run freely down her face, occasionally wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Not fighting her loss of control allows it to pass quickly and after a few minutes she can mostly clean her face off. She flops over on her back in the grass and concentrates on taking deep breaths.

Know yourself, know your world. Decide, act, and accept the consequences.

That is the only real control a person has in this world. That is what she has been taught.

She wants to go out there, make her choices, and find out what she's really made of.

Her father thinks she will fail when it actually matters.

He may very well be right.

The idea of never knowing for sure is suffocating.

So where does that leave her?

She will not argue with her father. Only actions can prove she is right and that is going to take time.

Eventually, she stands up, straightens out her clothes and goes back down the hill.

* * *

The kitchen is dark, but there is a covered plate sitting on the counter. She appreciates her father giving her some time to compose herself.

She picks at the food for a few minutes before giving up and putting the rest of it away.

For a second night she stays up much too late practicing in the courtyard, attempting to clear her head.

* * *

 **Thank you to German Girl for the encouraging comment. And Thank you for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

In the morning Kunia gets up at sunrise, eats her breakfast and completes her chores around the school, same as usual. She eats lunch with her father in near silence, which is also pretty normal. She's not trying to be sullen, she just can't think of anything to say.

Her situation hasn't really changed only her perception of it. No reason things can't continue on as before. For awhile at least.

* * *

As she practices with the other students that day, it occurs to her that even fulfilling her father's ambition for her would require her to travel.

Some part of her had believed that there would eventually be a tipping point. That eventually the other students would _have_ to acknowledge her skill.

Perhaps, but it is clear now that simply being able to best every other swordsman at the school will not be enough. The step up to her father's position can only be reached by circling the whole world first.

Fathers will not give their sons over to be trained by a person they believe incapable of leading in actual combat.

* * *

'That's 1,998, I thought we were at least past the stage where I could beat you without even trying,' Kuina taunts after they finish their first round, 'you're still weak Zoro.'

He straightens up at the insult she rarely uses anymore. He frowns in some mix of confusion and anger. She is being unfair, but she doesn't care. She wants a fight and she knows he will oblige her. 'Come on. Give me a challenge this time.'

Zoro gives her an assessing look, but simply nods as he takes a starting stance. They duel again.

Afterward, they sit on the porch to eat their snacks as usual. She feels marginally more at peace, but still can't think of anything to say.

Zoro looks at her sideways occasionally, but doesn't pry.

He finishes his food and gets up to go wiping his hands on his pants. As she waves him off she feels the need to comment, 'Tomorrow it will be 2,000, Shrimp.'

He snorts at her, 'You can't count them until they've actually happened, Beanpole.'

* * *

She spends another evening, practicing under the waxing moon. She's tired and irritated with herself. Sulking isn't going to change anything. All she is doing is losing sleep.

After working up a sweat, she washes her face and tries to meditate. There's nothing useful to think about, but her brain won't shut up anyway.

Eventually, she gives up and goes to bed.

* * *

She doesn't discuss their duel count with the other students, but they know it anyway, somehow. Most of the students and her father have decided to come out to the courtyard to watch.

As they square off the other students call out to Zoro, encouraging him to finally beat her, 'come on Zoro you're better than her!'

'Stop letting her show off!'

'He's probably taking it easy on her'

Her father hushes them, 'Don't distract the duelists.'

Zoro can easily beat any student now standing in the courtyard. And he has never been able to beat her. They respect him, but she is a show off.

It shouldn't matter what they think. Every victory she has had is a fact. But in that moment, seeing their ultimate disdain for her, she wants to scream in frustration.

And there is Zoro, standing in front of her. Doing his best to beat her and thus prove how worthless all her hard work has been. His teeth are gritted; he looks almost as pissed off as she feels.

They both raise their practice swords. In the space of one deep breath they assess each other.

Then they are both moving forward. The duel is brief. Two clacks as she knocks both his swords aside and then a loud crack as she completes the arc with a two handed strike right to the middle of his forehead.

He stumbles back and falls.

'Kuina wins! Zoro, who used double swords, loses! Kuina is in the lead with 2000 wins to 0!' her father calls out, as if they were at a tournament.

She quashes down the pang of guilt she feels at seeing Zoro lying on the ground clutching his forehead and falls back on her habits from when her father has her teach someone a lesson, 'Hmph! How pitiful, a boy…and still so weak?!'

Some of the students call out in Zoro's defense. 'Zoro isn't weak!'

'Zoro is the best in our school!'

And, pedantically, 'Even when sparring with adults, he is still very good!'

As she turns to walk away, annoyance prompts her to throw out, 'Is that so? Still, he's weaker than me.' And then, as if that slide into pettiness has opened the flood gates she finds herself saying, 'Even if he uses two swords he's still useless!'

'Admit defeat since you've lost!' she throws at Zoro, who has picked himself up off the ground. He has clearly had enough with all the insults.

There is satisfaction at seeing the anger in his eyes.

The other students may make excuses for him, but he knows how things really stand.

That thought clears her head enough that she turns to leave. Nothing positive will come from her staying.

As she walks off she hears the other students still decrying her arrogance and Zoro venting his frustration.

* * *

Since she has just left the courtyard where she normally practices in the evening, she goes up and over the hill again and settles herself in the long grass to try to meditate.

Three days of confusion and tension with hardly any sleep must catch up with her, because the next thing she knows she is waking up cold and slightly damp with the full moon rising over the hill.

She shakes and stretches to warm herself up. She needs to get a handle on her emotions. Even disregarding the opinions of others, she does not like feeling so out of control. She goes to get her practice sword.

After about an hour of practicing her strikes on the training posts she hears crunching on the gravel behind her. She looks over to see Zoro standing there with the two katana he uses in class clutched in his hands.

Apparently he didn't go home. Has he been wandering around looking for her?

'Zoro?'

His shoulders are drawn up with tension, 'Kuina, duel me with real swords! I brought my katana!'

'Real swords?' Why is he doing this?

'Okay.' She goes to get Wado Ichimonji from the formal sitting room. He is only putting himself at a greater disadvantage if the quality of the blades they use has any say in the matter.

Does he think, like her father does, that she'll fold under the threat of a real fight? If so he's in for a nasty surprise.

They take their starting stances. He is looking more serious and angry than usual, 'Let's go.'

'I'm ready.'

They leap at each other. She realizes this actually _is_ a greater challenge. She is furious at the idea that Zoro also disdains her. Still, she doesn't want to hurt him, just scare the crap out of him.

Four strikes, then she redirects his blows in order to disarm and knock him over. She finishes by burying her blade in the ground right by his head.

That did the trick, he jerks at the ring of steel so close to his ear. She smirks down at him, 'My 2001st victory.'

His blades are still humming slightly from where they have both buried themselves in the ground. It is a surprisingly satisfying sound.

To her surprise, he slaps a shaking hand over his eyes as if trying to hide his face. A few seconds later tears start running out from under his hand.

She backs up and drops down on the porch steps. That's something she never thought she'd see.

Why does he suddenly care so much? It's not like they haven't been repeating this same scenario for over two and a half years now.

'Damn it,' he grits out, 'I don't believe this!'

He thinks the situation is frustrating? Unfair? What right does he have to feel that way!?

His sniffling is irritating, 'Actually, I'm the one who should feel upset here…'

The sounds suddenly stop as he takes in a surprised breath.

'Huh?' he sits up, wiping his eyes with the heels of his hands.

She thinks of what her father said to her. His words are only a reflection of the understanding everyone has about The Way Things Really Are, 'When girls get older, they become weaker than boys. Pretty soon all of you will be stronger than me.'

Zoro should know how lucky he is, 'You want to become the world's greatest swordsman? Father says that a girl could never reach that goal.'

Zoro stares at her. She realizes her face is wet.

'So, it's good that you're a guy! I want to be the world's best too!'

She brings her hands up to clutch at the wrappings under the loose shirt she's wearing. They're starting to chafe after wearing them the whole day. 'My chest has started to develop.'

It's just a petty irritation, complaining will only prove her natural weakness, 'if only I were a guy.'

There. She's vomited it all up. All the things there's no point in saying out loud.

She waits for Zoro to smirk at her and agree that it's inevitable that he will beat her someday.

Instead his face scrunches up with incredulous anger, 'You're telling me all this crap after you beat me!? That's unfair! To become like you is my ambition!'

To become like her? 'Zoro…'

'Does this mean that if I beat you one day it's not because of my hard work?!' He stomps over to where his swords are still sticking out of the ground and angrily pries them up, 'I'm training all the time to beat you! You're making me look like an idiot!'

In his agitation he takes a stance like he's getting ready to duel her again. She raises her eyebrows at him.

He starts as he realizes what he's doing. His glare dares her to laugh as he stomps over to pick up the sheaths that are leaning against the porch. Then, for good measure, he glares some more as he slams the swords home.

Despite her runny nose she finds herself fighting down a smile as he throws his arms out in a challenge, 'Let's make it a promise! One of us must become the greatest swordsman in the world! We'll see who can reach that goal first!'

She brings her arm up to wipe her eyes and tries to gain some composure. She has been trying to hold herself still, the cutting edge of her father's words still resting over her heart. One wrong move, one flinch and it would all be over. Zoro's words have pulled the blade away.

She is embarrassed by how relieved she feels, 'Stupid…you're the one who lost to me!' Her attempt at arrogance is severely undercut by the smile she can't keep off her face.

She holds up her hand, 'It's a promise.'


	5. Chapter 5

**Just a short addition that should have been in from the beginning. I found myself stymied for a long time trying to write this conversation, but I'm happy with how it turned out.**

* * *

She holds up her hand, "It's a promise."

Kuina doesn't miss the relief in his eyes as they clasp hands.

Her smile fades as something occurs to her, "Why are you still here? Your family is going to be worried about you."

He shrugs, "I sent a message home."

That answers the implied question, but not the actual one, Kuina thinks about the tension in Zoro's shoulders earlier, his utterly unexpected tears. Maybe at the moment it would be okay to ask, she can hardly be seen as mocking him when she's in such a pathetic state herself.

"Why not just wait until tomorrow?" She holds up Wado Ichimonji and resolves to give him the benefit of a doubt, "What did you think this would change?"

"You've been acting weird the last couple days," he crosses his arms and looks to the side, "You're grumpy a lot, but I've never seen you as angry as you were earlier today."

She scowls at him, " _I'm_ grumpy?!" He has the nerve to show the corner of a badly suppressed smile.

"Ok, never mind," She waves her hand dismissively, "So what? You thought letting me stab you would cheer me up?"

He huffs in frustration and addresses the post behind her at the top of the stairs, "I wanted to prove how serious I am." The tension from before their fight is leaking back into his voice, "I thought you were getting sick of dueling me. How could I beat you if you wouldn't fight me anymore?"

It doesn't take much reflection to realize how her behavior since her father declared his lack of faith in her must have seemed to Zoro. Sitting down on the porch stairs, she is about eye level with him. He is holding himself very upright and still, there is a crease between his eyes and his mouth is turned down slightly. Kuina feels a little ill.

He wasn't the one saying all those obnoxious things and yet she allowed herself to be goaded into behaving in a way she knew was wrong. It's shameful.

She pulls up her best giving orders voice, "Of course we're not done dueling, Shrimp. Until I leave home, you better be prepared to give me your best try every day. We have a promise to keep."

Zoro takes a deep breath as the tension finally leaves his shoulders. He looks her in the eyes and and grins at her in that brilliant and utterly sincere way he so rarely shows anyone. She smiles back.

Then they stand there awkwardly for a few seconds.

She ventures, "Are you okay to get home on your own?"

She realizes her mistake when he puffs up, but it's too late now. He'd rather get eaten by a bear then ask for help.

"I know how to get _home_ from here," he asserts, "and the moon is full, there's lots of light."

His mother also put stones dipped in white paint in line of sight of each other all along the path to guide him home. They should be visible in this light. There's no help for it.

She chuckles, "Ok, I'll see you tomorrow Zoro. Have a good night," she watches him follow the trail down the hill and then turns to go in herself.

Kuina smiles as she makes her way up the stairs to return her sword to its place in the formal sitting room. Thousands of fights stand between her and her goal, but she is moving forward.

They will move forward together.

* * *

 _Luffy and Zoro are sitting in their little sail boat heading toward who knows where. It's been several days since they left Morgan's marine base and they had been running dangerously low on food. Fortunately, a smallish sea king had just tried to eat them, so now they had meat to last them a couple more days._

 _Zoro is cleaning his swords. He only used one of the regular ones, but it seems right to clean all three._

 _Luffy turns the hacked up chunks of meat on the boat's brazier and whistles to himself, glancing up from time to time as Zoro goes through the process of wiping, polishing, and oiling each sword._

 _Luffy notices that he is taking an extra-long time with the gold and white one, 'Doesn't that get boring?'_

 _'No.'_

 _Undeterred by the swordsman's blunt reply, Luffy starts munching on half cooked meat while watching the ongoing work. Maybe…_

 _'Was that one a gift?' Luffy asks, pointing to Wado Ichimonji with one hand and shifting his straw hat with the other._

 _'I asked for it,' Zoro continues his work, focused on the sword rather than Luffy, 'the owner is the one I made my promise to.'_

 _Luffy's face lights up, 'Are they an awesome swordsman too?'_

 _Zoro snorts and smiles a little as he angles the sword to inspect it for mars, 'Kuina was pretty awesome,' he deflates a little, 'but she went and died before she could keep her half of our promise.'_

 _He looks up into Luffy's eyes for a moment before focusing on sheathing the katana, 'So I'm going to keep it for both of us.' His statement is punctuated with the click of the sword sliding home._

* * *

 **I've seen a couple different translations of chapter 5, where Kuina and Zoro's final two duels are shown, I basically picked the version of each line that sounded better to me.** **The action is as shown in the panels, although I got to decide on some of the in betweens, like how Zoro goes from unarmed, to holding his swords, to holding sheathed swords.**

 **Since I'm just starting out, it's going is a little slow at this point, but I will keep updating with other stories. Constructive comments are welcome as well as suggestions for additional tags.**

 **Thank you for reading.**

 **And thanks again for the favorites, follows, and reviews.**


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